Pattern detection, also known as pattern recognition, may be defined as a machine vision technique for detecting visual patterns, e.g. patterns printed on paper or other media. Pattern detection may have a variety of applications. Example applications of pattern detection include reading bar codes, verifying watermarks, optical character recognition, as well as biometric applications such as face recognition, fingerprint recognition, etc.
Prior pattern detection devices may be relatively sophisticated and expensive devices. For example, a pattern detection device may be implemented as a specialized device having optics and an image sensor for acquiring images and a processor and code for performing pattern recognition on the acquired images. Unfortunately, specialized pattern detection devices may be relatively expensive.
Pattern detection may be performed using a computer system, e.g. a personal computer, that is equipped with an appropriate imaging device, e.g. a scanner. Unfortunately, a personal computer with a scanner may be a relatively expensive way of performing pattern detection. In addition, a scanner for a personal computer may not be useful for detecting patterns on a medium that cannot be fed into a scanner, e.g. images on walls, boxes, or other surfaces.